Title: The importance of Kittens
Author: Roz
Email: roz4hobbits@hotmail.com
Pairing: M/P
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Pippin wants a kitten, Merry doesn't.
Feedback: Yes, please.
Warnings: not beta read .
Notes: this plot bunnies came from the talk me and impishvixen where having!
***

Merry was resting quite comfortably in one of the large chairs, fingers his pipe while absentmindedly reading one of the old books on herb law when Pippin bust through the door, he was grinning inanely and out of breath.

"Where have you been?" Merry greeted, not looking up from his book.

Pippin took of his jacket and hung it on one of the pegs by the door.

"I was out at my friends seeing her new kitten" he said happily.

"I see" Merry said slowly taking the pipe from his mouth, Pippin was still grinning. 

"She tiny and sat in my lap and tried to eat my barley sugar!, she is so adorable, little tabby thing only 7 weeks old, she fits in the palm of my hand and has these huge ears" Pippin stopped to catch his breath ".buy me a kitten Merry"

Merry smiled at him and shook his head "Pip, you know a pet is a lot of work"

"So?" Pippin pouted "I want one, they're so cute! It'd be like a baby…our baby... it gets the fur from your side of the family"

"Pip!  Will you feed it? And clean up after it?  Make sure it has a warm place to stay?"  Merry asked, still sting a bit from the fact Pippin thought him hairy, after all there was as much Brandybuck blood in Pippin as there was Took blood in him.  

"Yes, I promise...and it can sleep at the end of our bed!" Pippin said brightly, dragging over a chair so he could sit besides Merry.

"Well I don't think that would be very safe considering all the rolling around we do in there" Merry said, Pippin giggled and then shook his head casting away that idea.

"It can sleep in the...the draws with all my shirts in!" he said, Merry rolled his eyes.

"Pippin, you need to make it a proper bed" Merry said in a way that suggested he didn't think on top of a pile or shirts was a proper bed.  

"I will!" Pippin cried adamantly "please, Merry please can I have a kitten, I promise sexual favours if I can get a kitten!" he placed his hand on Merry's thigh and smiled promisingly, Merry appeared to think about this suggestion.

"I suppose there'd be no harm in looking for one..." he said after a while "but I don't know where we'll get one at this time of year"

"Oh thank you Merry!" Pippin cried happily, he throw himself at Merry and kissed him all over his face  "and somebody's bound to have some....farm cats have kittens all the time!"

"well, if you can find a litter of kittens, I shall go with you and help you pick one out...provided, of course, that they are all healthy, mind you" Merry sat back in his chair thinking that would be the end of it.   

 "I will find one" Pippin said determined, and then he broke Merry's peace again with more questions. "Boy or girl? What do you want to name it? Can we get two?"

Merry opened an eye and looked at him for a long wile.

"Gender is up to you, name is up to you and you will be getting just the one" 

Pippin pouted "but if we got two it'd be a girl and a boy! And you could keep one when I'm not with you as a reminder of me"

No...Because then we'd have kittens again by the next year Merry thought to himself, out loud to Pippin he said.

"Let's just see how well you take of one kitten and then we'll see about any others"

Pippin smiled sweetly at him and began rubbing his leg.   

"If I promise to do what ever you want tonight we'll have more kittens?"  He asked, Merry couldn't deny that the idea was very appealing but he shook his head.

"If you take good care of one kitten we can talk about maybe getting more"
Pippin abandoned the line of using his sexuality to get what he desired and went for the more methodical approach.   

"Ah! But it would be better to get them together and from the same litter, then they know each other and won't fight!"

"You don't know that , they could still fight" Merry said, Pippin shook his head stubbornly.   

"You just don't like kittens do you Merry?"

Merry looked offended

" I like kittens"

Pippin beamed.   

"But I don't necessarily want a whole family of them"

Pippin's face fell   

"I do, one big happy family" he said sadly, Merry caught his chin and lifted his face up till they where eye to eye.  

"One kitten, Pip". 

"Fine one kitten....this year" realising this was about as relenting as Pippin was going to get Merry changed tactic.

" One kitten and we'll see how much you want another when you have to do all the work"   

" I know I'll want another one....they're so cute and cuddly and they mewl sweetly and nuzzle you with their little noses...how could I not want another one?" Pippin genuinely seemed to believe kittens where all pink ribbon bows and sweetness.

"Because you will have to feed it everyday and clean up after all its messes" Merry said darkly  "and it does grow up, you know, it won't be a cute snuggly kitten forever"

"I know" it irked Merry that Pippin's grin hadn't wavered one bit "then it becomes a big protective cat whole sit on my bed and fallow me around and scratch Pervincia"

"Pippin..." Merry said warily.   

"Yes?" Pippin asked innocently. 

"I don't know about having an animal in the bedroom with us, can't it sleep in the study?"

" But…but it's our baby!" Pippin spluttered "how can you put her in the study! She needs constant attention, you said so yourself!"

Merry wondered when it had become her.

"Cats sleep about 20 hours a day, she'll be fine as long as she has food and water,  and she is yours not ours" he reminded Pippin who now looked very angry indeed. 

" I don't want a kitten just to feed and water Merry Brandybuck and she is ours" he said, poking Merry in the chest, Merry fended him off and gave up trying to fight, there was simply no point when Pippin was this obstinate.

" So it will sleep between us then?" he asked, resigned to his fate.   

"No, at the end of the bed,  not having anything between us" Pippin said crawling into Merry's lap and snuggling into him, Merry really wished he could be angry with him.

" Let's just see what happens when get it" he said huffily.  

"If we're getting one anyway does that mean you're not expecting sexual favours anymore?" Pippin asked, his voice muffled from somewhere in Merry's neck.

"Pippin" Merry said tiredly "I hope we have sexual favours between us forever, kitten or no" 

"Oh of course Merry" Pippin said, he leant closer to kiss Merry's ear and whispered "if I'm good with the kitten will I get some?"

"Of course love" Merry said, holding Pippin close. "Probably even if you're not"